Fogle has had a series of financial problems, with three mortgage foreclosures and five judgments, all still open, filed against him in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court in the past decade. In 2008, he filed for bankruptcy, listing $4,000 in assets and $284,000 in liabilities.
Fogle said Monday, June 14, that those problems, which started when he developed testicular cancer in 1998 and continued through bouts of unemployment, are one of the reasons he is running.
“There have been times that I’ve lived in a car,” Fogle said. “I’m not backing away from what happened to me.”
Fogle, 48, is one of three candidates who filed for the special Democratic primary in the 3rd Congressional District. The other two are David Esrati, 47, of Dayton and Joe Roberts, 25, of Kettering. The primary is July 13 and the winner will face U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, in November.
A check of records shows neither of the other two candidates have filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Ohio. Roberts did not have any cases in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court. Esrati also has no recent cases. The last was a lawsuit he filed in 2002.
Fogle said he had trouble paying his bills, including child support, because of continuing problems. His cancer, which started when he was a full-time employee at WDTN-2 and working as a schoolteacher, spread to his lungs, his lymph nodes and his renal artery. Though he had insurance, it covered about 75 percent of total costs, leaving him with six-figure bills, Fogle said.
He has also gone through periods of unemployment or underemployment, he said. Because he has not had health insurance, he has not been able to go in for routine testing recommended for cancer survivors, he said. Fogle said he believes people will understand his story because so many people now know what it’s like to have to make difficult decisions about what to pay: the mortgage or the medical bill?
“I was one of those people,” Fogle said. “It’s been a rollercoaster ride.”
Juniewicz is a longtime freelance writer for the Dayton Daily News.
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